Daughter of hunter-king, Matanga, and of Buddhist as well as Hindu origin, Matangi’s home is deep within the jungle. She is radiantly dark in color, dressed in red, has the disc of the moon on her forehead and is usually flanked by two parrots. She is of low caste, a Cangala. She is known as “Uccista-matangini”: the bestower of all boons on the unwashed, and asks, in turn, for polluted offerings…. a goddess for our age of pollution and waste. No vows or preparation of any kind are needed to ask for her blessing and the uninitiated are welcome. She offers psychic power and liberation to consciousness bound by social conformity and conventionality. She nourishes the sixty-four arts and plays the vina. One can ask her for poetic talent or any other gift associated with creation. Her name is pronounced Mah-tahng-GI (with a hard G).

This watercolor attempts to bring in the feel of the jungle (which is Her home) to the sacred geometry of the yantra of Matangi.